


Trust Issues

by lanwut



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-13
Updated: 2013-03-13
Packaged: 2017-12-05 03:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/718592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanwut/pseuds/lanwut
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set at the beginning of Mass Effect 2, Shepard has just woken up to a whole different world and is looking for any hint of familiarity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust Issues

_"Someone you can trust."_

Well, she certainly hoped so. Trust was earned, not given, and Jacob and Miranda hadn't earned it. If she was going to go on a hare brained galactic mission to save it again then she wanted at least some people who weren't so thoroughly in the pocket of the Illusive Man and his half-truths.

Airin Shepard turned for the door when it opened in front of her.

Joker.

"Hey, Commander," he said with an enviable nonchalance. She couldn't help the wide smile pulling at her lips. He was a sight for sore eyes, even with the bags under his eyes and days old stubble.

"Nice to see a familiar face," she commented with forced lightness, striding towards him. He pushed off the doorjamb and walked beside her as they went back upstairs.

"You're telling me. Haven't seen much of the old crew since you kicked it,” he said casually. This time she could hear the undercurrent of tension. They got to the top of the stairs and he immediately turned and kept going. She followed him, her boots loud in the spartan corridor.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Council wanted everything you stirred up swept under the rug. You're surprised, I know. Gets better, though. Alliance split the crew up and grounded me. We've spent the last two years putting ourselves back together,” there was a pain in his voice that she knew well. The aftermath of Akuze had been difficult in a very similar way for her. Putting herself back together while trying not to let on that she was struggling.

She was curious about something, though.

“You do remember that we fought Cerberus quite a bit, don't you? How'd you end up here?” Did he remember the ground team finding Admiral Kahoku's body after he was murdered by Cerberus? Did he remember all the other terrible things they had done?

“Why, Commander, I'm wounded that you would think so little of me,” Joker replied dramatically, a hand covering his heart.

“Joker, please.”

He wasn't going to tell her at first, but in that moment he realised what it meant to her. He was the first person she had seen since her awakening who she knew and trusted. And here he was with an organisation that could be considered _terrorist_ on the best of days, an organisation that they had run into several times before her death. In all this unfamiliarity, he was the only thing she knew and now he was with what used to be an enemy.

She was seeing it as a betrayal.

“They found me after I was grounded, told me they were bringing you back. Showed me pictures even. I don't recommend searching for those, by the way. Grade A nightmare fuel. I'll show you what else they did, though,” he explained as they stepped into an observation room. He didn't like dwelling on those two years. Through the windows that covered one entire wall, all Shepard could see was a black expanse.

“Check it out, Commander,” Joker said, gesturing at the bank of windows. Lights in the black expanse clicked on, set by set, until she could see the gleaming hulk of a ship that was in front of her. Shepard looked at him and smiled warmly.

“We'll have to give her a name,” she said.

They both knew what she would be called.

Hours later, they were aboard the Normandy SR-2 after Shepard had spoken to Miranda about it. Something about checking it all out so she didn't feel like a fish out of water when the full crew was there with her. Whatever she said, it had convinced Lawson to grant them the necessary clearances early.

The doors from decontamination hissed open and they took their first tentative steps on to the ship. As their motion was sensed, the dim lights brightened and Airin took her first real look at the new Normandy. She peered down the combat deck and saw that it had been kept in the same design as the SR-1. Familiar, if simultaneously shiny and different.

Was that an elevator?

“Sweet, no more stairs,” Joker commented, clearly also looking at the elevator.

“They didn't let you see the plans for the ship or anything? Or tour it already?” Airin asked, surprised.

“It was top secret. They only told me about this a few weeks ago,” he explained with a look towards the cockpit. Shepard couldn't hide a warm smile when he went to check it out. She had other things she wanted to see, though, and went in the opposite direction.

She toured through the armoury and the lab before heading up to where Joker was sitting in the pilot's chair.

“It's good to be home, eh, Joker?” she said quietly, a hand resting on the top of the chair.

They didn't do much more poking around, instead heading down to the mess hall on the second floor to raid the fridge for drinks.

It was nice to just sit with a familiar face and take it all in. There hadn't been a real moment of downtime since she'd woken up unless she counted sitting on a shuttle in tense silence with Jacob and Miranda.

“Hey, Joker? I'm glad you're here,” Shepard said.

Nothing else needed to be said, and the conversation wound down to a companionable silence after that, each of them working through their drink and their thoughts at their own pace. She knew from the Illusive Man's perspective that the reasoning behind Joker's presence was twofold at least: he was an amazing pilot and so an excellent asset to their cause, but he was also someone she trusted, someone she knew. That enigmatic asshole knew that she would relax around Joker and be more inclined to trust his operatives.

As long as she knew that, though, she would be alright. She would keep her guard up.

That was okay, though. She would make it work. She would make all of this work.

Somehow.

“So no crutches?” she asked, breaking the silence. Joker almost looked surprised, like he hadn't expected her to notice.

“Part of Cerberus' offer to get me here. Metal rods and cybernetics to strengthen my bones. Not exactly brand new tech, but they footed the bill,” he explained with the smallest of smiles curling his lips.

“Oh,” Shepard said, leaning back in the stiff seat. Joker shrugged.

“Beats what I had, that's for sure,” he commented.

“Yeah, yeah it does. More than I'll ever know, I think,” Airin said quietly. Joker didn't say anything to her, just looked at her with a look on his face that was completely indescribable.

“I should go. It's getting late.”

They both knew that she wouldn't sleep. Joker was clever that way. He knew she would just lie awake, stewing in her turmoil. There was plenty of it to stew in. She left Joker to his own devices and went to the elevator.

Captain's cabin.

She'd never been so far from crew quarters and the ambient noises that brought before. She had always been part of the crew, or at least close by. The doors to her new quarters hissed open and she was greeted by a well-appointed room. Her eyes, though, immediately went to the huge fish tank.

What was _that_ doing there? And why did Cerberus waste credits on it?

A mystery wrapped in an enigma, Airin decided. That's what all this was to her right now.

She'd unravel it soon enough.


End file.
